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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25551412">Bring It On Home to Me</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/yespolkadot_kitty/pseuds/yespolkadot_kitty'>yespolkadot_kitty</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Hummingbird 'Verse [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Prospect (2018)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Songifc, Tumblr request, pure fluff, shameless fluff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 11:01:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>792</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25551412</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/yespolkadot_kitty/pseuds/yespolkadot_kitty</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A Tumblr request for the Hummingbird 'verse "the first time they say I love you."</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ezra (Prospect 2018)/Reader, Ezra (Prospect 2018)/You</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Hummingbird 'Verse [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1811131</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>44</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Bring It On Home to Me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The first </span>
  <em>
    <span>I love you</span>
  </em>
  <span> isn’t earth shattering. It isn’t a huge declaration of sweeping love and promises of forever. In fact it sneaks up on you, rather like the way Ezra himself has snuck up on you, making himself slowly indispensable to your body, and then to your heart, with his slow, sugary drawl and his soft brown eyes and his quiet kindness. Kindness to you, when he could be all kinds of rogue, but not to you.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>You’re making breakfast - egg substitutes with real ham - for once - on bread you’ve baked yourself. Ezra is in the shower, the husky rasp of his baritone carrying to you as he sings. The first time you heard his voice, you thought you were dreaming. You hadn’t mentioned it, thought maybe he didn’t know the sound carried beneath the water rushing.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Bring your sweet lovin’, bring it on home to me.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>The first time you’d caught snatches of the words, you’d looked it up on the data pad. Sam Cooke, a soul singer from Terra-1. Where had Ezra heard the music? The song suited him - Ezra had a terribly romantic heart under all that blustering, long-winded prose.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’d never be a famed singer, but he put his soul into it, and the off-key rendition endeared him to you even more. You closed your eyes for a second and just attuned your ears to his voice until the water cut off, and his voice faded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ten minutes later you were finishing up at the stove when you heard Ezra’s footfalls. You lean back as his arm wraps around you; his facial scruff tickles your cheek.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Seems an enchantress has been at work in our kitchen,” he murmurs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>You turn your head; meet his lips. He smells of the thyme and bergamot bodywash he keeps in the cupboard, and something uniquely Ezra. Searching for that scent kept you up at night when he was gone to trade. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Heard you singing,” you whisper.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He stiffens and you wish the comment back. “Hummingbird, I-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I liked it,” you reply, firmly. “You put your heart into it. Like everything you do. Would you dance with me, sing to me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He frowns. “I’m a terrible singer.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not to me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>You see him visibly soften and you shut the stove off and turn in his embrace. “Ezra,” you whisper, leaning up to kiss his sweet, solemn mouth, wishing the little wrinkle away from between his eyebrows.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My sweet seductress, I fear that dancin’ is a two-armed man’s game,” he says awkwardly, and your heart breaks for him, the little pieces littering the space between your bodies. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I don’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>want</span>
  </em>
  <span> to dance with any man. I want to dance with you,” you coo, sliding your arms around his neck as he wraps his left arm around you, tightly. “Just sway with me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Must confess, feelin’ faintly ridiculous here, Hummingbird,” Ezra mutters, even though it’s just the two of you in the room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe it’ll help if you sing?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He sighs, resting his chin on your forehead, his jaw working, and you’re just about settled into the realisation that he’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>so done</span>
  </em>
  <span> with this when he starts to croon, so softly at first that you’re unsure if you’re imagining it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His voice is a bit squeaky in places, and off-key, but to you, it’s the most perfect version of any song you’ve heard, because Ezra is laying himself </span>
  <em>
    <span>bare</span>
  </em>
  <span> for you, sharing something that has been private for so long. You lean into him, nuzzling your face into the curve of his shoulder, pressing kisses to his torso through the faded fabric of his t-shirt. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hummingbird,” Ezra breathes as he finishes the song, your bodies still swaying gently together in the small, dimly lit kitchen, but it’s yours and </span>
  <em>
    <span>he</span>
  </em>
  <span> is yours and right now that is everything.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>You lift your face to his and meet his soulful brown eyes, and your heart simply cracks wide open. “Ezra.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hmmmm?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I love you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Several emotions parade over his face - shock, surprise, pure, intense joy, and then a gentle smile, before he crushes you close, his lips in your hair. “ “My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep; the more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite.” “</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“One of the famous Terran writers?” you ask.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“William Shakespeare.” He cups your face, brushes his lips over yours. “I love you with every beat of my weary old heart, Hummingbird,” he whispers, his voice a caress. “I’ll love you until I breathe my last.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>You snuggle in, goosebumps on your arms from his declaration. Then: “Oh! The food’s getting cold.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ezra presses his face into your neck, holding on, just breathing you in. “It’ll keep another minute.”</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
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